§ Mr. Barry JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many(a) home helps and (b) district nurses per 1,000 people over the age of 65 years there were in England for each of the years 1989 to 1993; and if she will make a statement.
§ Mr. BowisFor England, figures are available only for home helps employed by social services departments. They do not take account of home helps in the independent sector, including those working in services that have been contracted out. For home helps directly employed by SSDs only, the figures for 1989 to 1993 are 7.5, 7.4, 7.2, 7.1 and 6.6 respectively.
The figures for district nurses are shown in the table.
Number per 1,000 people aged 65 and over 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 District nurses 1.3 1.4 1.3 1.3 1.2 Sources:
The home help figures are derived from the annual Department of Health census of local authority social services staff.
The district nurses figures are derived from the Department's non-medical work force census.
The population data used are the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys mid-year figures for England.